Edmond, OK

Old North makes Edmond's higher-education history part of an active campus. The building opened for classes in January 1893 as the first public structure in Oklahoma Territory dedicated to higher education. It now stands within the University of Central Oklahoma, which traces its founding to 1890 and occupies 210 acres near the center of Edmond. UCO enrolls over 12,000 students across 120 undergraduate, 79 graduate, and two doctoral programs. The main campus begins about four blocks east of the traditional business district, placing residence halls, classes, athletic events, and student services close to Broadway shops and downtown gatherings. That proximity gives the university a visible role in the center of the city and closely integrates the campus with downtown.

Edmond itself began as a railroad utility stop. Surveyors called the location Mile Marker 103 in 1886, marking its distance from Arkansas City, Kansas. Santa Fe crews dug a large well and built coal and water facilities for steam locomotives. On March 28, 1887, the station was named Edmond for railroad attorney and freight agent Edmond Burdick. A town formed after the Unassigned Lands opened to settlement in 1889, with commerce clustered between the tracks and Broadway. Oil discoveries in the West Edmond Field broadened an economy previously tied to the railway, the territorial school, and nearby farms during the 1930s and 1940s. The former 1936 National Guard armory beside Stephenson Park now houses the Edmond History Museum, whose collection of over 40,000 artifacts and photographs traces that growth.

Broadway remains a setting for transit, art, and recurring street events. Citylink Edmond's transfer center stands one block west of the avenue on Third Street, and every ride and transfer is fare-free. Since 2023, the service has also operated park-and-ride shuttles for the annual Downtown Edmond Arts Festival; the May 2026 festival carried 1,755 shuttle passengers. Heard on Hurd supplies a second street rhythm. In its thirteenth season in 2026, the event brings food vendors, retail pop-ups, and live music to Broadway and Hurd on third Saturdays from March through October. Each date brings over 60 food and retail vendors and three local acts. Between event dates, sculptures and murals from the Art in Public Places program remain visible downtown and elsewhere in Edmond.

Arcadia Lake gives Edmond a second center of activity on the city's eastern side. The city and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers opened the 1,820-acre lake in 1987 on the Deep Fork River. It supplies municipal water and controls flooding, while twenty-six miles of shoreline support boating, fishing, swimming, camping, and trails. The same site functions as working infrastructure, a recreation area, and a large event setting. Edmond is marking the Route 66 centennial there on August 29 and 30, 2026, with the inaugural Route 66 Beach Festival at Edmond Park. Beach sprints, live music, food trucks, and games are planned, and Citylink festival shuttles will extend downtown's fare-free transit service to the lakeshore.